The Banshee Pub

The Banshee Pub occupies a substantial building in downtown Scranton, Pennsylvania, a structure whose origins predate its current commercial use and whose previous architectural purpose shaped its historical significance within the community. The building was originally constructed to serve as a warehouse facility, designed with the utilitarian architecture typical of late nineteenth-century industrial structures—heavy timber framing, substantial brick and masonry walls, and minimal ornamentation reflecting its functional purpose within the industrial economy. Scranton's location in Pennsylvania's anthracite region and its position as a major railroad hub made it an ideal location for warehouse operations serving the region's extensive industrial infrastructure, and this building represented one of many such structures supporting the movement of goods through the transportation networks connecting the anthracite coalfields with broader American markets.

During the devastating influenza pandemic of 1917, which swept across North America with catastrophic mortality, the warehouse building was repurposed to serve as a temporary morgue facility to accommodate the overwhelming numbers of deceased individuals that exceeded the capacity of conventional funeral home and cemetery infrastructure. The 1917 Spanish influenza pandemic, which killed an estimated fifty to one hundred million individuals globally and approximately 500,000 in the United States, created unprecedented challenges for communities attempting to manage mass mortality. Scranton, as an industrial center with dense population concentrations, experienced particularly severe mortality rates, and the requisitioning of warehouse space for morgue operations reflected the desperate circumstances that communities faced when conventional infrastructure proved inadequate. The building that would eventually become known as the Banshee Pub thus acquired a tragic historical association with mass death, suffering, and the collective trauma experienced by the community during one of the twentieth century's most devastating public health crises.

Following its use as a pandemic morgue and the eventual conclusion of the influenza crisis, the building was subsequently converted to commercial use, eventually becoming a restaurant and bar establishment. The transition from warehouse to morgue to hospitality establishment represented the typical pattern of urban adaptive reuse, where buildings were repurposed according to changing community needs and economic opportunities. However, the years of service as a pandemic morgue had established an indelible historical layer within the building's physical and spiritual identity—a period when the structure had absorbed the suffering, death, and emotional anguish associated with mass mortality and collective trauma.

Beginning at an unspecified but documented point in the building's operation as a restaurant and bar, employees and patrons began reporting paranormal disturbances that accumulated sufficiently to prompt investigation by paranormal research organizations. Employees and guests reported observing full-bodied apparitions materializing within the establishment, including the distinctive figure of a man dressed entirely in black, whose appearance and demeanor suggested historical origins in an earlier era. Additionally, witnesses reported encountering the apparition of a small child—a young girl whose age appeared to be in early childhood—who was observed climbing the stairs to the second floor independently, without adult accompaniment or visible source of movement. These apparitions, appearing to represent different temporal periods and demographic categories, suggested multiple spiritual entities inhabiting the location.

Paranormal phenomena extended beyond visual manifestations to include disembodied voices—auditory phenomena experienced by multiple witnesses within the establishment—and shadow figures materializing in peripheral vision and doorways. The basement area, the lowest level of the structure, emerged as a particular locus of paranormal activity, suggesting possible connections to the building's historical use as a morgue. Cold spots appeared spontaneously in specific locations, areas of sudden temperature depression consistent with reported paranormal phenomena. Electronic interference plagued the establishment, with lights flickering randomly and electrical systems behaving erratically despite conventional maintenance and repair. Physical contact experiences were documented, with staff and patrons reporting the sensation of being touched or pushed by unseen presences.

The accumulation of paranormal reports prompted formal investigation, and the Food Network, in 2019, specifically recognized the location—then operating as AV Restaurant and Lounge—as the most haunted restaurant in Pennsylvania. This official designation elevated the location's profile within paranormal tourism and research communities, establishing it as a location of particular significance within the broader geography of American haunted places.

Contemporary operations at the location acknowledge its paranormal reputation, which has become an integral aspect of its historical identity. The building stands as a nexus where industrial history, pandemic tragedy, and contemporary hospitality intersect, with the spirits of the deceased—whether victims of the 1917 influenza or other historical traumas associated with the location—appearing to maintain residence and interaction with the living world.